SPOV
Frozen. I could not fucking move. Carlos hit that asshole Cosby right in front of our bench, and now all I could see was blood seeping through his white away jersey.
"Steph! Steph." Cal shook my arm and I managed to snap out of it. "Get the kit out for me." Dreider reached out and swung the gate open and Carlos slowly made his way in to sit on the bench. I knelt down, heart thumping madly, and pushed his jersey up to assess the damage and was confronted with a 6 inch long laceration on his left flank that was, thankfully, not very deep, but was bleeding sluggishly. Someone dangled a package of sterile gloves in my face and I snapped them on. Cal was bent down next to me,
"Do we need to call Doc?" I asked him.
"Nope, it's superficial we can glue this up. It'll be fine." He said calmly. I looked at him incredulously.
"Seriously?"
"Babe, it's not that bad. Just fix it up and I'll get back in the game." I hadn't looked at his face yet, I was too worried the pain I'd see there would set me off. But his calm voice gave me the courage to finally glance up only to see him silently imploring me not to freak out.
Treat him like you would the others Steph. You can discuss the idiocy of him going right back to the game later. Now is not the time, now is not the time...
Cal handed me some sterile water and ointment. I was putting my wound care skills to the test right now and I cleaned it as best as I could. I got nervous when Cal snapped the glass in the tube of Dermabond and put it in my hand. This was going to sting like a bitch. I looked up at his face. He was doing stoic really well right now, but I could see the tightness around his eyes and knew he was hurting.
"Take a deep breath captain, this is going to hurt." He looked down at me and smiled. I took a deep breath and painted the glue right over the length of that nasty looking slice and felt his whole body tense up. He didn't make a peep though, and I didn't dare look at his face right now. He prided himself on his toughness and I didn't want him to feel that he looked weak around me, even if I was acting as a care provider right now. Bobby had run back to the locker room and came back with a clean jersey for him, he slipped it on right there. Play had resumed, but I wasn't quite done. I taped a dressing over the cut, more for padding than anything and Cal pronounced him ready to go. My attention was pulled back to the game when the goal horn sounded. Shit! Fucking Pissburgh had just scored while I was all distracted. With thirty seconds of play left we'll be going into overtime now.
"Fuck!" Carlos said, so pissed that they were tied. I sighed and stood up, resigned to the fact that he was going to finish out overtime at least. Espo was tapping Dagelin, Buccarello and Dom Toore for the shootout if it came to that, and he was ranting a bit about that last goal. Carlos leapt over the boards and took off, the horn sounded to signal the five minute sudden-death OT period and now that they were playing four on four it was even faster than normal. There was a shot on Hal that he poke checked and all of a sudden Carlos streaked down towards Pittsburgh's end on a breakaway, he leaned in, flicked the blade of his stick and the puck sailed right over Fleury's glove hand. Holy shit! What a wrist shot! Not only was my man hurt, but he just won the game with that one goal. Their celebration was pretty raucous with all the boys on the ice and the Ranger fans that were in the audience screaming for them. The Pittsburgh fans quietly filed out of the arena. Their team may be having a good season, but we were better. I know I shouldn't gloat but come on! That was fantastic!
We all trooped back into the locker room followed by some reporters. Carlos and Espo were the main media targets so I told Boyler, Benoit Bouliot and Brodie Richards that they needed to be on the treatment tables ASAP. We had a flight out in less than three hours and I had to rub down 6 players before then. Cal and Doc pitched in and we got everyone done pretty quickly. Carlos was my last one. The fun of having my hands on these guys had quickly dissipated with the smell in the locker room and the realization that the only sweaty man I found attractive was my honey. He sauntered over already showered and rebandaged. I hoped he hadn't cooled down too much for this to do him any good. I shook out my tired hands and sighed at the sight of him with just a little towel over his perfect ass, face down on the table. I oiled up and smoothed my hands down his back, feeling his tension slip away. I got rid of a few small knots and then worked quickly on his legs. By the time I made it back up to his neck he was dozing lightly. My poor guy! I crouched down by his face.
"Carlos." I whispered, "Baby wake up! We have to get on the bus. He opened his eyes and gave me a slow, sleepy smile. "I really want to kiss you right now." He whispered back. I looked around and there were still a few players wandering around, nobody was paying attention but I didn't want to risk it.
"Later, okay." He nodded but looked a bit miffed. He sat up pulling the towel tighter and stood and stretched, remembering the cut at the last minute and grumbling a bit about it. I snickered and went to throw all my crap in my bag.
We had less than an hour to get on the plane to Montreal. We were staying at a hotel right by the airport as we wouldn't be getting there until after 2:00 am. Whoever made up this schedule for the team was a complete dumbass! This week was killing me already and I wasn't out there on the ice every night.
I was nearly delirious by the time I got to my room and was just about to flop down face first on the bed, when there was a knock on my door. Grinning when I looked through the peep hole knowing that now I could really make sure he was okay. I yanked the door open and pulled Carlos inside. I started shoving off his coat and he made a grab for the hem of my shirt, but I slapped his hands away.
"Babe?" he sounded like a kid who had his favorite toy taken away from him.
"Nu-uh Captain, no nooky tonight. I just want to check your side."
"I'm fine. Stop fussing." I started to unbutton his shirt; he gently grabbed and held my wrists.
"I'm fine." He said deliberately.
"Let. Me. See!" I said vehemently. He sighed and let go of my hands. I finished the buttons and spread the shirt open. The difference between the lovely dark color of his skin and the stark white of the bandage was really jarring. I felt tears well up, but managed to keep them from spilling over. I gently peeled a corner of the dressing back and was relieved to see that the glue had held and he hadn't bled anymore. I had a little flashback of horror to when I saw him bleeding but had no idea how deep his injury was and I started to shake. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. Feeling the solid thumping of his heart was incredibly reassuring.
"I was really scared there for a minute you know? That really fucking sucked!" He nodded.
"I know, you turned so white I thought you were going to pass out for a minute! You were amazing though, you did a great job!" I did an amazing job? I don't think so. I pushed away slightly so I could look at him.
"Yeah...no, you did great though. I can't believe you got that shot off! It was so fast that Fleury didn't move his glove till after the puck was in the back if the net." He just grinned at my praise.
"But you better hope that it's my night off next time you get hurt, that's two times in a row that I've been on the bench and you've gotten hurt. I don't like it!"
"It's the nature of the game Steph. If it wasn't we wouldn't have met right?" I nodded reluctantly. He was right of course, but it didn't lessen my heart clenching anxiety at seeing him in that kind of pain. I laid my cheek on his chest again.
"Is it okay if I stay here tonight? The rookie is sleeping already and I don't want to sleep without you again."
"You're so smushy sometimes! Yes of course you can stay here." I pushed his shirt the rest of the way off and started working on his pants.
"I thought you said no nooky?" He said with a cocky grin.
"I did. You gonna sleep with all these clothes on? I'm just helping you not tweak that cut!" He just smirked. Given that my fingers were now ghosting softly over his beautiful abs, he probably thought that I would cave and jump him, but I really didn't want that cut to open again. We could hold out for a day or two. Well...maybe until the morning...give it some time to heal.
I set the alarm for 9:00 so Carlos could head back to his room to check on the kid. We had to have our bags downstairs and be ready to get to the Bell Center by 12:00. We were heading to Ottawa right after tonight's game.
I woke way before the alarm. Carlos was still sleeping; well most of him was still sleeping. We were spooned together and his morning wood was poking me in the butt. I giggled and shifted against him. His breathing changed and I knew he was waking up. I shifted again and felt his hand move under my shirt and settle against my belly to push me back against him. His hand drifted up and cupped my breast and I hummed. I really loved the way he touched me, he was so friggin sensual. He started planting kisses on my neck that made me shiver and caused my nipples to shrink almost painfully. He pinched one gently, making me moan.
"You like that?" He rasped in my ear.
"Umm hmmm."
He was slowly moving his hand down into my underwear. When he felt how wet I already was he groaned in my ear.
"How are you always so ready for me Babe? It drives me fucking crazy that I barely have to touch you and you're wet and ready for my cock."
Jesus Christ! His dirty mouth...
He tugged my panties down until I could kick them off, I reached back to try to shove his boxers down but I accidentally grazed his dressing making him gasp.
"Carlos, stop baby, you're going to hurt yourself even more." I tried to move away but his hands held me tight to him.
"Stay right where you are, believe me there are parts of me hurting right now, but my side is not one of them." He ground his erection into my backside to illustrate his point.
He held my leg up and slid a finger inside me.
"I can't wait anymore, you ready Babe?" I know I should've fought him on this, but I couldn't really think past how much I needed to feel him inside me. To answer him I pushed his boxers down enough to free him. I circled my hand around his thickness and rubbed the tip of him up and down my slit, making us both cry out. He took my hand off him and moved it so I was holding my leg up myself and he slowly pushed into me. He was the only partner I'd had that I'd allowed inside me bare. Feeling him without the dragging sensation of latex was just...unf…I was so full and the way he was moving and touching me! It sure didn't feel like we'd only been sleeping together for a week. I couldn't even remember what it was like to be with someone else. He'd completely ruined me for anyone else. He filled me not just physically, but emotionally. His almost slip up in the elevator yesterday solidified it. He was it for me; I wasn't scared to tell him anymore. I just hoped I'd heard him right, because I did; I loved him, so fucking much. He sped his movements and my mind emptied of anything other than feeling him, his perfect long fingers moved down to find my clit, he pinched it and a tingly heat flashed through me. I craned my neck back and kissed him hard as he forced me to come. He stroked me gently until I calmed, then grabbed my hips with both hands and slammed into me a few more times. He bit my shoulder lightly as he came, moaning into my skin.
I wanted to roll over and look him in the eyes when I told him, but as I went it do just that his phone rang on the bedside table. He groaned and reached for it to check the screen, smiling when he saw it was Julie.
"Sorry Babe, she wants to chat before she leaves for school." He said with a kiss to the tiny bite mark he'd left on me. He swiped the screen open and said, "Good morning baby! You all ready for school?"
Thank god she didn't Face Time him!
I could hear her chatting away on the other end and I looked up to see his face while he listened. He really loved that little girl; it just radiated out of him when he talked to her or when they were together. Watching him tuck her into bed the other night was so sweet it made my ovaries ache. I'd never been there before. I'd been so focused on finishing school and getting a job that I'd never really thought about having children beyond the abstract knowledge that I'd like to have them one day. Any of the guys that I'd dated were definitely not procreation partner material. But this man? Definitely...one day. Not any time soon, but I could easily imagine it. And crazier still, I didn't feel any panicky freak outs emerging about that. Maybe it was his ease with Julie, and what an amazing kid he'd helped to make in her.
I remember my mom telling me a long time ago after some disastrous date, that when I met the right guy I would just know. What do you know? She was right!
RPOV
"Okay sweet girl, go get your shoes on like mom's telling you to. Have a great day in school. I'll call you before the game. I love you."
"Okay Daddy I love you too. Miss you."
"Miss you too baby. Bye." And she was gone. I had the best job on the planet, but these long road trips killed me. I wouldn't be seeing her for 5 more days. I was just about to put the phone back on the table when it buzzed in my hand.
"Damn it." Fucking Ziller! I completely forgot about him! Steph groaned and shuffled into the bathroom. I got up and hunted for my clothes as I answered my phone.
"Yeah."
"Hey Captain. Where are you? I got hungry and ordered us breakfast."
"I'll be there in 10 minutes kid."
"Okay, did you stay here last night? Your bed's still made." He was such a nosey fucker.
"I'll be there in 10." I said tersely and hung up.
I had finally located my pants and was pulling them on when Steph came back looking exhausted still. I hugged her into me and rested my chin on her head. She had this way of placing her face against my chest...the feeling of her warm breath and soft skin was so...comforting.
How could such a small person fill me up the way she did?
"I'm going to head back to my room, okay Babe?" I felt her nod. "We don't need to be on the bus till 12:00. Why don't you go back to sleep."
"Okay." She said sleepily and broke away to crawl back under the covers. Her t shirt rode up as she maneuvered and I caught another glimpse of her luscious ass.
Mmmmmmm...shit!
By the time I'd thrown on my shirt and shoes, she was nearly asleep. I reset the alarm for 11:00 and I leaned over to kiss her pouty mouth and said, "see you at 12 Babe". She mumbled something I couldn't make out. I stroked her cheek and she sighed. I fought with my instinct to crawl back in that bed with her and conk back out. I moved to the door and looked back at her all snug and warm.
I love you.
I was going to have to tell her very soon. It was getting way too hard to hold it in. I trudged to my room and arrived at the same time as breakfast. I could see that the kid was dying to ask me where I'd been. The look I shot him when he opened his mouth probably convinced him otherwise. He might have been very young, but he wasn't stupid. He cleared his throat.
"Umm, how do you think the game is going to go tonight?"
"I think if we play like we've been playing we're going to kick some Habs' ass. They're playing really well though so don't get too cocky. This isn't going to be an easy game." I shoved the last of my bagel in my mouth, chugged some juice and said, "I'm going to get a couple more hours sleep. It's 8:00 now so be ready to hit the hotel gym at 10:15."
"Really? You'll work out with me?" He said excitedly.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"Well, you're...you know, you, and I'm..."
"Cut that shit out JT. We're all on the same team. I've just been here longer. You wouldn't be here if you weren't a good player. Okay?" He nodded. "You should probably try to sleep a little now. We'll be leaving for Ottawa right after the game tonight. At least we'll be able to sleep on the bus."
"Okay captain." I headed into my bedroom and was out cold thirty seconds later. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. As predicted the game was really tough and we ended up losing in overtime, but at least I got to prove to Steph that she wasn't my personal injury jinx. My side ached a bit, but she'd done a great job patching me up; the glue held up really well. The atmosphere in the locker room post game was the polar opposite of last night, quiet and tense. We'd still earned one point, but during the shootout Stubban had deked at the last possible moment and Hal had moved to block half a second too soon. I wasn't going to let this get me down though, you start to let this shit get to you and before you know it team morale is in the toilet and you lose every fucking game. I was getting this team through the playoffs this year if it was last thing I did.
Steph was rubbing me down afterwards and I felt my whole body relax under her incongruously strong hands. She found a knot in my lower back and worked on that making me groan out.
"Shhh Carlos. I don't want everyone to look over here and see that I'm about three seconds from grabbing your ass." I smirked to myself, she'd told me the other day that she loved the two dimples above my butt and she was right over that spot. I felt her touch lighten and her fingers were just under the edge of the towel...and now I was getting hard.
"Babe stop! If I get up right now the few people that are still in here will see exactly what you do to me." She chuckled and moved down to my feet and she stretched out my stiff ankle and calf. Ugh that felt so fucking good!
"All done." She said slapping my towel covered ass. I really owed her an actual massage. This is the second time she'd done this for me, I know it was part of her job and everything, but I still felt like a selfish asshole.
Hmmm maybe tomorrow.
Only that dick, Lester was left in here with us so I came up behind her as she was packing up and pressed in close.
"After tomorrow's game. I'm going to rub you down Babe. Every inch of you." I whispered in her ear. She shivered and emitted a tiny moan. I looked over her shoulder and sure enough her nipples were hard little points through her shirt. Satisfied with her reaction I moved away to get dressed. We'd already decided that I wouldn't stay in her room tonight. I knew the kid wouldn't rat me out, but I didn't want to put him in the position to have to lie. We made our way to the bus and she went and collapsed next to Doc. He smiled down at her as they began to converse in French. I fucking loved hearing her slightly raspy voice speaking a language I was only vaguely familiar with. I needed to figure out a way to get her to do it while we were having sex.
Unf! Fucking stop!
I'd been sporting a semi since she first touched me on the damn table. I don't think McDougall needed to get an eyeful of that when I sat next to him.
"You've got it bad, huh?" He said looking back at Steph.
"Yeah I really do." I sighed.
"Does she know it?" He asked.
"How much I love her? Not yet." His mouth dropped open.
"What's wrong with you? You're so clueless sometimes. Fucking tell her. What the hell are you waiting for?" He said, sounding very pissed at me. I loved how easily she had all these guys wrapped around her finger. I was very grateful that I'd asked her out that first day. Only two guys on the team were married and one was widowed. Boyler was right, if I fucked up with her there would be a line formed behind me just waiting to convince her to go out with them. Not that she would do that, more that she could if she wanted to.
"I'm going to tell her after the game tomorrow. I wanted to wait till we were home, but it's almost slipped out twice already and I'm afraid I'll blurt it out while we're...I just want to tell her the right way."
"Ha! I know what you were going to say!" He flicked me in the forehead and I shoved him in retaliation. "There's no perfect way for that, just tell her jackass. She feels the same way, I can see it. Just tell her."
"I will." After tomorrow's game. I looked back at her, she was out cold with her head on Doc's arm. He gave me a shit-eating grin. I knew he'd engineered the seating arrangement for a reason. At least I knew she was safe with him. We'd talked earlier, and man! He was totally gone for Steph's friend Lula. I hadn't seen him like that since before his wife passed away. That had been fucking awful, he had held it together at work, but he'd come over to my place and broke down a few times towards the end of her illness. He'd felt so helpless that he couldn't heal her. That was three years ago. He was much better now, but it had been a long road for him. I was really happy for him, even if he did overshare a bit too much of the "date" he'd had with Lula. I grinned back at him and tried to get a little more comfy. We had at least two more hours till we were in Ottawa.
I was jolted awake when the bus stopped in front of the hotel; we all stumbled out and grabbed our crap. Thankfully our travel coordinator had gone ahead of us and checked us in. I could feel that Steph was right behind me and I so wanted to take her to my room and just bury myself in her. I'd never experienced this kind of physical need to be connected with someone before, like it was essential for survival. It was up there with food and water and air. Elemental in its necessity.
Christ! I was hard again and I hadn't even touched her!
Seven of us got on the same elevator together when all I needed was to be alone with my Babe. When we got to our floor everyone but Steph got off. I looked at her as the doors closed and motioned for her to call me. I don't know if she saw that though as her eyes were fixed on my crotch. I called her as soon as I was locked in my bedroom in our suite; hopefully the rookie was already sleeping.
"Hi." She sighed.
"Hey Babe, what're you doing?" I could hear the movement of cloth against the phone.
"I'm putting on one of your shirts and I'm going to collapse. I'm so fucking tired. The next road trip better not be back to back like this. I can't even remember where we are right now!"
"Ottawa. What shirt?" I really needed a visual on this.
"The one you had on under a button down the other day. You left it at my house and I packed it so I could give it back to you, but now you're there and I'm here...I just wanted to wear it, it still smells like you. Sorry, I should have given it to you already." It was on the tip of my tongue, just burning to come out.
Tell her tomorrow, tell her tomorrow.
I wanted to be able to make love to her after I told her. Over the phone felt cowardly and besides I was absurdly turned on thinking about one of my shirts over her nearly naked body.
"What else?" I blurted as I stripped.
"What?"
"What else do you have on?"
Please play along?
I was so hard it was starting to hurt and if I couldn't be in her I could at least have her voice wrapped around me while I got myself off.
"Absolutely nothing." Her voice had dropped a full octave. She really had no idea how fucking sexy she was.
"Shit! Really? Do you have any clue how hard I am right now? It's been nearly a whole day since I've been inside you and it's fucking killing me that you're one floor away."
"Carlos, I need to feel you touching me." She purred. I squeezed my dick trying to quell the ache there...
"Talk to me Babe, tell me where you want me to touch you." The tiny mewl that she let out nearly had me redressing and sprinting to her room.
"Mmmmm, my face, my throat, my breasts…my stomach, my pussy." She was whispering and I heard a door open and close on her end but didn't think much of it.
Oh my god, she was killing me. My hand was no longer squeezing, it was pumping up and down now. I was fucking desperate.
"Carlos, go open your door."
"What?" What?
"Hurry up and open your door, I don't want to knock and wake anybody up."
Oh god!
I grabbed the bathrobe that was hanging by the closet, threw it on and ran for the door. I pulled it open and gripped her around the waist lifting her against me and devouring her lips with mine. I carried her into the bedroom with her legs locked around me and relocked the door. She'd thrown on her coat over my shirt, but it had ridden up when she wrapped her legs around me so I had her naked ass cheeks in my hands and she was grinding against me. My robe had opened a little and she was trying to get my cock inside of her, I could feel how wet she was on my stomach. It was such an aphrodisiac to feel how much I turned her on. I peeled her coat off and laid her down while she attacked my neck and chest. I pushed that shirt up and off. I needed to see every inch if her. I made to move down to lick her delicious pussy, but she stopped me by grabbing my hair and locking eyes with me.
"Carlos, what you can do with your tongue is fucking fantastic, but if you don't put that fat cock in me right fucking now, I'm going to explode. Just. Fuckin. Fuck. Me."
"Holy shit! Yes ma'am." I was going to marry this woman one day, just you see. I was already straddling one of her thighs so I shimmied up till we were lined up and slid into her.
Unf. Fucking tight!
She was always very snug, but like this was just...
She bit my earlobe and reissued her order. I took it slow. I'd push hard into her then pull out almost all the way super slow. I let one hand graze down her gorgeous body. The way I was laying on her was limiting her movement so she just grabbed my ass and held my hips close to her, changing my movements till I was rubbing inside her and against her pubic bone rather than thrusting. She started getting louder so I bent and covered her mouth with mine. I could feel her climbing higher and put a little extra pressure behind my movements. I felt her nails dig into my ass and her pussy walls clamped down on me so hard I actually feared that I might never be able to do this to her again. She wailed into my mouth when she came and I pulled out of her and slammed back in over and over again, she threw her untrapped leg around my waist and the change in angle ripped my climax right out of me. I buried my face into the pillow to the side of her head and yelled into it. I fell to the side and brought her close, chest heaving. I had no idea what I was going to do when I had to go to Sochi. If I couldn't make it 24 hours without being inside her, it was going to be really, really rough being there alone for two weeks.
"Are you staying here tonight?"
"No, this was just a booty call baby!" She giggled. For that she was getting tickled. Her sides were her most ticklish so I attacked them big time. She was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out and tears were leaking out. The happiness shone out of her like a beacon. Damn, she was so fucking beautiful.
Tomorrow, tomorrow. Not now!
I gave her a reprieve and she pulled in huge breaths trying to regain her equilibrium. That massive smile was still firmly in place.
"Stay here tonight?" I'd beg if I had to.
"I didn't bring any clothes with me. I don't think me sneaking out of your room when your teammates are awake and moving around, while wearing only your t-shirt and a coat will make Espo real happy. You can stay in my room tomorrow night right?" I looked down at her and stroked her cheek.
"Try to stop me." I said as I kissed her pouty lips again. The kiss turned serious and I started to get hard again, when she broke it off to yawn. Not a dainty little yawn either, it was one of those whole body shuddering, jaw cracking yawns. I patted her ass,
"C'mon babe, I'll walk you back to your room. You need some sleep." She opened her mouth to protest but yawned again.
"Fine, can you find where you flung that shirt while I go clean up?" She scooted off the bed and I couldn't have peeled my eyes off her retreating backside for anything.
I wonder if she knows she has those dimples too?
I found my shirt for her and dug out a clean pair of workout shorts from my suitcase for her, they would be really big on her, but they had a drawstring that should make them stay up at least. She emerged and grabbed the shirt.
"Wait let me just..." With my hand splayed on her firm belly I bent down and quickly pulled her tight little nipple into my mouth. She groaned and held me to her and complained when I let go.
"I didn't think that you were a cruel man, but that was fucked up if you're just going to leave me at my door."
"I am, but only because I have big plans for tomorrow night and I want you to be well rested." I couldn't resist giving her one more little tweak. She slapped my hand away and pulled the shirt the rest of the way down.
"Stop fucking teasing me. I need to get some sleep, let's go."
The next day was rough. We were all exhausted from traveling and back to back games. We managed an amazing game though considering our fatigue and beat the Senators 4-2. We didn't have a game the next day so pretty much everyone hit the bar next to our hotel. Someone had told the rookie that the legal drinking age was 19 in Ontario and he was overjoyed at being able to drink. He'd scored 2 of our 4 goals, so I let it go and just asked him to take it easy on the beer. Canada was a hockey obsessed country so it was not a surprise to find a contingent of women follow us into the bar. We were all wearing game day suits so Steph had run up to her room to change into something less casual than the t-shirt/track pant ensemble she'd been sporting today. Even in that she was a thousand times sexier than these puck bunnies that were milling around. If was fucking freezing out there and they were wearing very little. I saw one make a beeline to the kid and I watched to see what he'd do. We'd all warned him, but he was technically an adult so I wasn't going to intervene. I was, however, going to make sure he had condoms. These girls were known for their determination to screw as many players as possible, I didn't want him going home with an itchy dick and a prescription for antibiotics. His mother would be pissed at me.
I was sitting at the bar nursing my one beer for the night waiting for Steph to arrive, when someone sat on the stool I was saving for her. I turned to tell them it was taken to find a very young woman, of maybe 20 at most, staring back at me. She was cute and she made me think of Julie. I don't know why but I looked over at Ziller and saw that the girl that had approached him had meandered off.
Hmmmm.
The girl next to me looked very sweet and she wasn't dressed like a slut either. She had on a Rangers shirt and jeans.
"You're Carlos Manoso right?" She said excitedly. She wasn't trying for demure, she was genuinely excited to see all of us.
"Yep." I shook her hand
"Jeanne Ellen, I'm such a big fan. Wow! This is so great. I was at the game and holy crap! you guys played so well. That second goal of Ziller's! He's such an amazing player. I've had such a crush on him since you guys called him up from Hartford...I can't believe I just said that to you! I'm sorry! I'm going to shut up now!" She looked mortified that she'd said that, I couldn't help but smile at this kid. I was definitely going to introduce her to JT; she was a sweetie, perfect for him.
I felt that tingle and knew Steph was here. I turned to find her and she was standing at the door looking really sexy in red and staring daggers at the girl sitting next to me. I waved her over and introduced them, "Steph, this is Jeanne Ellen, she was at our game tonight and was really impressed with the rookie. I was just about to introduce them, what do you think?" Steph looked slightly less homicidal and the girl just gaped at me.
"Hey JT! Come over here kid." I yelled over to him.
"No, no! Oh my god! I'm going to say something really stupid I just know it!" Jeanne whispered. Steph was grinning ear to ear by now, as was I.
He ambled over, straightening to his full height when he noticed the pretty young thing sitting next to me. Steph was full on giggling and trying to muffle it with her hand. JT and Jeanne were just staring at each other.
"JT Ziller, this is Jeanne Ellen, she's just told me she really liked your second goal today." His chest puffed out a bit.
"Yeah? It was a tough one but I'm pretty proud of it." He said to her.
I left them to it and turned to my Babe. She moved in closer, "that was some pretty skillful wing-manning there, she was looking so star-struck at you I thought I might have to kick her ass!" She said quietly. I kind of loved that she was jealous, though I'd never give her reason to be. I did think we needed to work on trusting each other though, I had to endure the way my teammates looked at her every day and I felt a twinge of anger every time. We all were propositioned a lot though so I was going to have to give her time to get used to it.
"She was just looking for an introduction. She's a sweet young kid Babe. Usually they're a lot worse. I'm going to keep telling you till you get it. You're the only one for me, I'm going to need you to trust me okay?" She immediately protested.
"Please don't think I don't trust you, I do. It's just crazy to see someone enamored with my boyfriend. Believe me she was starry-eyed over you too." I just shook my head and slid my hand around her waist pulling her between my legs. We were eye-to-eye like this, and I didn't give a fuck about what Espo said. We weren't having some dirty affair. I had nothing to hide and I wanted everyone to know that this gorgeous woman was with me. That she was mine. I pulled her even closer and kissed her softly, she moaned and plastered herself against me and kissed me back with so much emotion that my heart was pounding when she finally pulled away. I realized that everyone that didn't know were staring at us all agog. They were silent for a second and then started hooting and hollering and shouting "way to go Captain!"
I had to get us out of here. I looked over at the rookie and he was busy making googly eyes at Jeanne. Good, he was taken care of for now.
"Ready to go?" I asked Steph. She stepped back and tugged on my hand, she looked as anxious to leave as I felt.
"Call me if you need me." I said to JT as I was leaving.
"Yeah." He said distractedly. I pulled him aside, "do you have protection?" He swallowed hard and nodded. "Good, use it okay?"
"I don't think..." He hedged. I cut him off, "Just be careful, she's a nice girl."
"I know. She really is." He said looking back at her. She smiled dreamily at him. I snickered and looked at Steph and she mouthed "so cute!" to me.
I got nervous on the way to her room, I hadn't said these words to anyone but my daughter in a long time. I didn't know how I was going to get them out without sounding corny.
"What's wrong Carlos?" She said after she closed the door. I was having trouble forming words, so I cupped her face and kissed her gently. She responded like she always does and pulled me close till there wasn't an inch if space between us.
"I wanted to wait until…we were back home to tell you this...but it keeps almost slipping out and I don't really know what to do with it all. And you're so...just so...you're it for me Steph. I already can't see my life without you in it. I think about you all the time, even when I'm playing. I want to take you places, I can't wait for the season to be over so we can go on vacation and we can spend the whole time together."
What a smooth motherfucker I am!
"What I'm trying to say is that I love you. I am so in love with you Stephanie." I finally shut up and looked at her.
She was frozen, like deer in the headlights kind of frozen.
The next thing I knew she had tackled me to the bed and was kissing all over my face.
"I fucking love you Carlos." Kiss, kiss, kiss, "So much! I can't even wrap my head around it." Kiss, kiss, kiss. "Sometimes I feel like my heart's going to explode with it."
AN: I had to end it there, as the next part is looooong! I was going to cliffy if because of that, but thought that would be too mean! Expect Ranger's Rangers to have the most wins in NHL history after this. I write that they lose one game and my boys lose a crucial game in real life. In everything but hockey I am an empiricist. In hockey I am a one superstitious woman!
Review and let me know what you thought?
EA xoxox